worries about 2nd edition (archiving this for posterity)

[Zappo]

Is it logically possible to change something and yet have it 100% compatible?

Well, yes, but only if you just add new features without changing or removing any of the previous. 2E wasn't 100% compatible with 1E, in fact.

 

[diaglo]

Way to go, Eric. You're gonna make diaglo cry again...

i think i said the same thing almost word for word when my players made the campaign switch to include more of the 1edADnD rules.

 

[Vocenoctum]

I remember reading those when they were first published - really takes you back Thanks for the walk down memory lane.

I remember trying to convince people that a d10 for initiative wouldn't ruin their game... ah, good times.

Anyone remember the surprise rolls for 1e?
Race X is only surprised on 1in 12, race Y surprises on a 1,2,3 on d6, but Race Z can surprise on 1 or 2 on d8, but only on Wednesdays.

 

[wingsandsword]

I like that part about anything after the core rules would be optional and then... the rampant use of all those OPTIONAL rules all over the place and in various sourcebooks etc. NWPs were about as optional as THAC0.

LOL

Jason

Well, I guess that's kinda how games evolved. Most people started including the "Optional" rules because they were more player friendly (-10 rule), and they resembled aspects of other games on the market and helped the game be something other than a dedicated combat/dungeon crawl game (NWP's).

I remember, circa late 1998, showing a gamer who had played a few other games (BESM, d6 Star Wars, Alternity) AD&D 2e. Now, our group (like every other one I met) used the "Death's Door" rule, NWP's, specific religions (since clerics of other than "Generic Good" and "Generic Evil" are optional in 2e), even Druids are optional technically under 2e. Showing them "by the book" AD&D 2e was a shock, a look at an earlier era of gaming.

She took a good long look at "core 2e", then the "Optional" rules which everybody used, then the other "Optional" rules we used (Player's Option), then our house rules (some of which were very similar to 3e, somewhat flattering for the next edition to include things we were already doing), and was happy. I was taught 2e under that set of options and house rules, and like her, after looking at "by the book", I didn't look again.

 

[MerricB]

On the other hand, cantrips will disappear from the core rules (we have to get space from somewhere). The basic problem that cantrips were introduced to solve – that of a 1st-level magic-user trapped in
a 3- to 4-hour adventure with only one spell – will be dealt with in some other
fashion.

Umm... how did they do it?

And how was having 4 cantrips like "Dust" and "Polish" memorised instead of "Sleep" ever useful?

Cheers!

 

[MeepoTheMighty]

Umm... how did they do it?

And how was having 4 cantrips like "Dust" and "Polish" memorised instead of "Sleep" ever useful?

Cheers!

IIRC, there was a 1st-level spell called "Cantrip" which could do a whole host of cantripy things.

 

[MerricB]

IIRC, there was a 1st-level spell called "Cantrip" which could do a whole host of cantripy things.

My question stands. It's not like those Cantrips did anything.

Cheers!

 

[Kalanyr]

Yeah 2e Cantrip was basically Prestidigitation (per 3e), And as far as I remember my first level wizard, did only have a single first level spell. (Without multiclassing that would have been very painful.).

 

[teitan]

Well, I guess that's kinda how games evolved. Most people started including the "Optional" rules because they were more player friendly (-10 rule), and they resembled aspects of other games on the market and helped the game be something other than a dedicated combat/dungeon crawl game (NWP's).

Yeah, everyone used NWPs, even my group... in 1E actually. I liked them myself as it made the character more than a Thac0 and a list of spells. The biggest issue was the referencing to all the various rulebooks and the way they would say "Vecna was an evil Lich but to find out more about him read XXX because we aren't telling you anything here... though it is pertinent information to understand this sourcebook and oh, did we mention the referenced book is OOP?". Or Kits... I hated KIts in so many ways... loved them in others... but my god... they are supposed to be OPTIONAL, balance issues aside... LOL

Jason